Climate change in size-structured ecosystems
- Brose, Ulrich J. F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Berliner Strasse 28, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- Dunne, Jennifer A. Pacific Ecoinformatics and Computational Ecology Laboratory, 1604 McGee Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94703, USA
- Montoya, Jose M. Ecological Networks and Global Change Group, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (CSIC), Pg. Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37–49, 08003 Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
- Petchey, Owen L. Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Schneider, Florian D. J. F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Berliner Strasse 28, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- Jacob, Ute Institute for Hydrobiology and Fisheries Science, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, KlimaCampus, Grosse Elbstrasse 133, 22767 Hamburg, Germany
- 2012-11-5
Published in:
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. - The Royal Society. - 2012, vol. 367, no. 1605, p. 2903-2912
English
One important aspect of climate change is the increase in average temperature, which will not only have direct physiological effects on all species but also indirectly modifies abundances, interaction strengths, food-web topologies, community stability and functioning. In this theme issue, we highlight a novel pathway through which warming indirectly affects ecological communities: by changing their size structure (i.e. the body-size distributions). Warming can shift these distributions towards dominance of small- over large-bodied species. The conceptual, theoretical and empirical research described in this issue, in sum, suggests that effects of temperature may be dominated by changes in size structure, with relatively weak direct effects. For example, temperature effects via size structure have implications for top-down and bottom-up control in ecosystems and may ultimately yield novel communities. Moreover, scaling up effects of temperature and body size from physiology to the levels of populations, communities and ecosystems may provide a crucially important mechanistic approach for forecasting future consequences of global warming.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- bronze
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1098/rstb.2012.0232
- ISSN 0962-8436
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/208408
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